Psionic Academy

Chapter Fifty-three: Experiments

Inside, Ava was sitting with her back to Shane.

As he stepped inside, Ava spun around to face him.

For a second, he saw a burst of electric shock flashing in her eyes. And then her look of surprise melted away into an expression of relief.

Next to Ava, Professor Seabend was crouching on the floor, her back against the room's wall.

"Shane," she said, without expression. It was an abrupt greeting and a statement, at the same time. Then realisation seemed to dawn on her, and her face broke into a smile.

"Oh, Shane! I'm so glad you're alright!"

The door was pushed open; Luciana and Fernando walked inside.

The Professor's joy seemed to grow.

"Thank goodness! You three are safe, you're safe!" she exclaimed.

"Yes," Luciana said, "and Liang is safe too. He's hiding in the Conservatory."

Shane noticed that Luciana had excluded any hint of Liang's change in behavior, of his hostility.

Shane agreed. It would drop the group's morale if they killed a rare moment of cordiality.

In her hand, the Professor clutched a collar - one of the collars that the Onyx League had been placing on the students while they were held captive in the forest.

"What're you doing?" Fernando asked breathlessly.

"Trying to figure out what this is, what it does."

The collar gave a random beep. The Professor didn't flinch.

She continued to fumble with the collar, turning it around and around in her hands. After a while, she held it still.

"Can you remember what students the Onyx League put these collars on? How many people did they put these on?"

Shane thought back to their captivity.

***

He was in the forest, bound to a tree.

There was panic all around him, it was choking.

Grayson, Hanako, and Adrian were all protesting loudly, struggling against the tight restriction of the collar.

However, the four guard Officers surrounded them, positioning themselves in a threatening manner, and the three students fell silent instantly. Shane watched in horror as the lights on the collars began to flash crimson.

They shone on and off in a rapidly increasing sequence, until they flashed spasmodically.

Grayson, Hanako and Adrian all yelped in unison, a sharp exclamation of pain.

Then the lights turned off completely, going dark.

The scientists were already on the move. They took the collars off of the three students, and began walking towards a trio of others.

Shane's stomach dropped. Whatever they were doing, they were planning on doing it to everybody.

***

When Shane emerged from the re-living of the memory, there was the bitter taste of fear in his mouth.

He ignored it.

"There were three of them," Shane said to the Professor.

"Grayson, Hanako, Adrian."

The Professor nodded.

"Thank you."

She returned her attention to the collar.

"Have you found anything out?" Luciana asked.

"About the collar, I mean?"

"No," Professor Seabend said, "it remains a mystery."

What could the collar's purpose be? Shane wondered.

"I have no idea what this collar does, but it can't be good. And there's only one way to find out."

She started attaching the collar to her arm, twisting it around her wrist.

Shane shook his head, slowly, incredulously.

What was she doing? Was his teacher insane?

Her next statement seemed to confirm that thought.

"I'm going to put it on."

Sylver here! I hope you enjoyed this new chapter. Realising that the Onyx League has attached the collar to a number of her students, Professor Seabend proceeds to experiment upon herself. I just realised it as I was writing this - but it seems kinda fitting that the teacher of Psionic Science would be the one to run an experiment during a school lockdown. What do you think will happen to Professor Seabend? What will the results of this particular experiment be? Leave your thoughts in the comments - and stay tuned for more upcoming chapters of Psionic Academy!

If you've enjoyed reading this story, don't forget to vote, comment and add it to your reading lists. If you have any tips for how I can improve my writing, or what I did well this time, please feel free to tell me. Thanks for reading!